Latest news with #Melbourne-born
Courier-Mail
9 hours ago
- Sport
- Courier-Mail
Football: Joe Montemurro to coach Matildas
Don't miss out on the headlines from Football. Followed categories will be added to My News. Joe Montemurro says being appointed Matildas coach is the 'honour of a lifetime'. Montemurro's expected appointment as coach of the national women's football team was confirmed on Monday by Football Australia. 'To be appointed head coach of the Matildas is the honour of a lifetime,' said the 55-year-old Melbourne-born mentor, whose previous jobs included title-winning stints as coach of the women's teams of Arsenal, Juventus and most recently Lyon. 'This team means so much to so many Australians, and I'm humbled by the opportunity to help shape its next chapter. 'I've followed their incredible journey closely and am energised by the passion, resilience, and identity they've built. 'There's a generation of talent coming through and major tournaments on the horizon. 'My job is to honour the legacy, harness the momentum, and help this team play football that inspires and unites the country.' Joe Montemurro has been named as the Matildas' new coach. Picture:Montemurro will replace interim Matildas coach Tom Sermanni, whose final game in charge will be Australia's clash with Argentina on Monday night. Sermanni was appointed interim coach in September last year soon after the departure of Tony Gustavsson following the Matildas' poor Olympic Games campaign. Football Australia interim chief executive Heather Garriock said Montemurro brought 'world-class experience, a deep understanding of the Australian football landscape, and a genuine connection to our national identity'. 'Importantly, he has spent the last decade coaching at the very highest levels of the women's game in Europe and brings with him an unparalleled understanding of what is required to compete and succeed at the top of modern football,' Garriock said of Montemurro, who before heading to Europe coached the women's teams at Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory. 'Joe has shown an ability to build high-performing teams that play with tactical clarity and attacking intent, and we believe his vision and values are the perfect fit to lead the next era of the Matildas with professionalism, vision and distinction.' Originally published as 'Honour of a lifetime': Joe Montemurro appointed as new Matildas coach
Sky News AU
9 hours ago
- Sport
- Sky News AU
Football: Joe Montemurro to coach Matildas
Joe Montemurro says being appointed Matildas coach is the 'honour of a lifetime'. Montemurro's expected appointment as coach of the national women's football team was confirmed on Monday by Football Australia. 'To be appointed head coach of the Matildas is the honour of a lifetime,' said the 55-year-old Melbourne-born mentor, whose previous jobs included title-winning stints as coach of the women's teams of Arsenal, Juventus and most recently Lyon. 'This team means so much to so many Australians, and I'm humbled by the opportunity to help shape its next chapter. 'I've followed their incredible journey closely and am energised by the passion, resilience, and identity they've built. 'There's a generation of talent coming through and major tournaments on the horizon. 'My job is to honour the legacy, harness the momentum, and help this team play football that inspires and unites the country.' Montemurro will replace interim Matildas coach Tom Sermanni, whose final game in charge will be Australia's clash with Argentina on Monday night. Sermanni was appointed interim coach in September last year soon after the departure of Tony Gustavsson following the Matildas' poor Olympic Games campaign. Football Australia interim chief executive Heather Garriock said Montemurro brought 'world-class experience, a deep understanding of the Australian football landscape, and a genuine connection to our national identity'. 'Importantly, he has spent the last decade coaching at the very highest levels of the women's game in Europe and brings with him an unparalleled understanding of what is required to compete and succeed at the top of modern football,' Garriock said of Montemurro, who before heading to Europe coached the women's teams at Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory. 'Joe has shown an ability to build high-performing teams that play with tactical clarity and attacking intent, and we believe his vision and values are the perfect fit to lead the next era of the Matildas with professionalism, vision and distinction.' Originally published as 'Honour of a lifetime': Joe Montemurro appointed as new Matildas coach
Perth Now
9 hours ago
- Sport
- Perth Now
‘Honour of a lifetime': New Matildas coach appointed
Joe Montemurro says being appointed Matildas coach is the 'honour of a lifetime'. Montemurro's expected appointment as coach of the national women's football team was confirmed on Monday by Football Australia. 'To be appointed head coach of the Matildas is the honour of a lifetime,' said the 55-year-old Melbourne-born mentor, who previous jobs having included title-winning stints as coach of the women's teams of Arsenal, Juventus and most recently Lyon. 'This team means so much to so many Australians, and I'm humbled by the opportunity to help shape its next chapter. 'I've followed their incredible journey closely and am energised by the passion, resilience, and identity they've built. 'There's a generation of talent coming through and major tournaments on the horizon. 'My job is to honour the legacy, harness the momentum, and help this team play football that inspires and unites the country.' Montemurro will replace interim Matildas coach Tom Sermanni, whose final game in charge will be Australia's clash with Argentina on Monday night. Sermanni was appointed interim coach in September last year soon after the departure of Tony Gustavsson following the Matildas' poor Olympic Games campaign. Football Australia interim chief executive officer Heather Garriock said Montemurro brought 'world-class experience, a deep understanding of the Australian football landscape, and a genuine connection to our national identity'. 'Importantly, he has spent the last decade coaching at the very highest levels of the women's game in Europe and brings with him an unparalleled understanding of what is required to compete and succeed at the top of modern football,' Ms Garriock said of Montemurro, who before heading to Europe coached the women's teams at Melbourne City and Melbourne City. 'Joe has shown an ability to build high-performing teams that play with tactical clarity and attacking intent, and we believe his vision and values are the perfect fit to lead the next era of the Matildas with professionalism, vision, and distinction.'
France 24
3 days ago
- Sport
- France 24
Wallaby Samu relishing post-Top 14 reunion with 'awesome' Pollock
Experienced Samu and promising Pollock, 20, met in last Saturday's Champions Cup final in Cardiff as the French outfit lifted the trophy for the first time. The 33-year-old now turns his head to Saturday's Top 14 trip to Toulon before a move to the Waratahs and staking his claim in the Wallabies team to face the Lions, with the first of three Tests on June 22. "He's an awesome player," Samu told AFP. "He's really young and has a bright future ahead of him. "Out there he's a great competitor and you see that in this competition and in the Premiership. "A great player, I wish him all the best and hopefully see him in a couple of months," the 33-time international added. The victory in the Welsh capital, Bordeaux-Begles' maiden major trophy after being founded in 2006, was followed by delirious scenes back in France. 'Great feeling' Samu was in the middle of the celebrations having scored four tries in five Champions Cup appearances this term. More than 40,000 people welcomed Samu and his team-mates for a bus parade and ceremony in the south-western city, better known for its wine production. "It's a great feeling," Samu said. "That's been the plan for the club for the past couple of seasons and to come away with it is very satisfying," the former Crusaders back-rower added. After the festivities, which also included a day in a beach restaurant on the sun-drenched Atlantic coast, Bordeaux-Begles head to Toulon. They are likely to rest a host of front-line players recovering from the Champions Cup final, and its aftermath. Third-placed Toulon are five points behind the newly-crowned Champions Cup winners in the Top 14 table with two rounds of the regular season to go, with Samu's side potentially a point away from securing semi-final spot. "It's going to be tough game against Toulon this week," Melbourne-born Samu said. "They're only a couple of points behind us," he added. Elsewhere this weekend, 14-time French champions Stade Francais can take a big step towards safety if they beat play-off chasing Clermont. Perpignan travel to La Rochelle and Vannes welcome Pau with the Catalans and Bretons also in the relegation scrap. Fixtures (all times GMT) Saturday Sunday © 2025 AFP
The Advertiser
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Advertiser
How Hulk Hogan's sex tape led to drug-friendly Games
What does Hulk Hogan's home-made porno - with his mate Bubba the Love Sponge's wife - have to do with it? For Australian entrepreneur Aron D'Souza, a fair bit. Hogan's romp is a link in the chain leading D'Souza to Las Vegas' sunset strip for this week's launch of Enhanced Games, a multi-sports event with no drug testing. D'Souza, a 40-year-old Melbourne-born businessman, has the backing of multi-billionaires, and a family company of US President Donald Trump. And he's pinching himself that a concept first planted in his mind 15 years ago when he read a bioethicist's paper is now in fruition. "I think about my life and it's like truth is stranger than fiction," D'Souza told AAP in an interview in Las Vegas. "If someone wrote the story of my life, you just couldn't believe it. "The Peter Thiel/Gawker case, that's a book and a movie in itself." The Gawker case involves Hulk Hogan and a home-made pornographic film. In 2006, the world famous wrestler was down in the dumps. A mate, a shock-jock known as Bubba the Love Sponge, offered his wife to Hogan. The wrestler agreed, on condition it wasn't recorded. Bubba lied, filmed the frolic and, six years later, it was leaked to a brash New York publisher known for flaunting rules, Gawker. In 2007, Gawker outed Thiel as gay. That article, while legal, enraged the German-born multi-billionaire who is now among financiers of D'Souza's Enhanced Games. The Australian met the German around 2010 when D'Souza, then 24, was completing a law degree at England's Oxford University. They got talking. Thiel told of his Gawker gripe. D'Souza got thinking. Why doesn't Thiel fund lawyers to find cases against Gawker, then sue them into extinction? Thiel agreed. When Gawker publishes Hulk Hogan's sex tape in 2012, D'Souza's plan swings into action. Backed by $10m of Thiel funds, Hogan wins damages to the tune of $100 million. Gawker goes bankrupt. Thiel was soon revealed as Hogan's bankroller. But D'Souza - the mastermind of a ruthless tactic earning some nods of approval among those in high society - stayed in the shadows, anonymous. Those who knew of his involvement in the case, knew him only as Mr A, adding to international intrigue. "I said I just want to be a private guy; I just want to go back to Australia, run my family property, business, run my start-ups," he said. "Today I am a very public figure but I was not comfortable with being a public figure 10 years ago. "The Gawker case, looking back, gave me the confidence to believe that I could do anything. "I'm very thankful to Peter Thiel because we decided to work on the Gawker case together when I was only 24 years old, I just met him socially." D'Souza remained connected with Thiel, who co-founded PayPal among other companies and was Facebook's first outside investor. And Thiel was an early investor when D'Souza floated Enhanced Games, a concept he nicked from an academic paper by Oxford bioethicist Professor Julian Savulescu debating merits of a sports event for athletes on drugs. "It wasn't my idea. I just said: 'You know what? I'm going to make a business out of this'," D'Souza said. Two years ago, he envisioned Enhanced Games interest streaming from various US college facilities. But he was shocked by the level of interest - and cash - from left field. Thiel, who wants to be cryogenically preserved when he dies, was joined as a backer by fellow multi-billionaire venture capitalist and biotech pioneer Christian Angermayer, who credits a magic mushroom trip for changing his life and wants to commercialise psychedelics. The pair, and others, view Enhanced Games not as a sports and entertainment event, but a shop-front stake in an anti-ageing and health industry worth trillions of dollars. "This is when two of the largest industries in the world merge - care, and sports and entertainment," D'Souza said. "There's so many more partnerships to be done, so many more levers in public policy to push, so many avenues of science to advance. "I do view this as still as a human rights struggle because, fundamentally, the principle human right is to be able to do with own body what we wish. "And that might mean taking synthetic testosterone. It may mean prosthesis. It may mean brain computer interfaces. "If you read the scientific literature, there is a pipeline of all this technology being developed right now." D'Souza said Enhanced Games' mission was "bringing super humanity - making the first super human". "Probably today, only one-tenth of a per cent of Americans would view themselves as enhanced," he said. "But in a few years, that will be five per cent, 10 per cent. "And that's how we're going to measure this. "I could get hit by a bus today and this event, this movement, will continue to succeed and grow because it's not about me, it's not about even the company that we have built. "It's about cultural zeitgeist that is happening in the world. "We timed it right but I am certain that within 20 years' time, all sport will be enhanced." The event has been decried by sports administrators worldwide, most notably the Olympic movement. But D'Souza said Olympic criticism had quietened since 1789 Capital, a company of Donald Trump Jnr, recently jumped aboard as a partner of the fledgling games. "I think there's been an order from the very top, and I mean from (soon-to-be retired IOC president Thomas) Bach himself," D'Souza said. "Because of the support we have from the Trump administration, and that the LA28 Olympics are coming around, they don't want to be seen as opposing us. "Because if they do, that risks the political support for LA28 and LA28 needs billions of dollars of taxpayer money to succeed." This AAP article was made possible by support from the Enhanced Games. What does Hulk Hogan's home-made porno - with his mate Bubba the Love Sponge's wife - have to do with it? For Australian entrepreneur Aron D'Souza, a fair bit. Hogan's romp is a link in the chain leading D'Souza to Las Vegas' sunset strip for this week's launch of Enhanced Games, a multi-sports event with no drug testing. D'Souza, a 40-year-old Melbourne-born businessman, has the backing of multi-billionaires, and a family company of US President Donald Trump. And he's pinching himself that a concept first planted in his mind 15 years ago when he read a bioethicist's paper is now in fruition. "I think about my life and it's like truth is stranger than fiction," D'Souza told AAP in an interview in Las Vegas. "If someone wrote the story of my life, you just couldn't believe it. "The Peter Thiel/Gawker case, that's a book and a movie in itself." The Gawker case involves Hulk Hogan and a home-made pornographic film. In 2006, the world famous wrestler was down in the dumps. A mate, a shock-jock known as Bubba the Love Sponge, offered his wife to Hogan. The wrestler agreed, on condition it wasn't recorded. Bubba lied, filmed the frolic and, six years later, it was leaked to a brash New York publisher known for flaunting rules, Gawker. In 2007, Gawker outed Thiel as gay. That article, while legal, enraged the German-born multi-billionaire who is now among financiers of D'Souza's Enhanced Games. The Australian met the German around 2010 when D'Souza, then 24, was completing a law degree at England's Oxford University. They got talking. Thiel told of his Gawker gripe. D'Souza got thinking. Why doesn't Thiel fund lawyers to find cases against Gawker, then sue them into extinction? Thiel agreed. When Gawker publishes Hulk Hogan's sex tape in 2012, D'Souza's plan swings into action. Backed by $10m of Thiel funds, Hogan wins damages to the tune of $100 million. Gawker goes bankrupt. Thiel was soon revealed as Hogan's bankroller. But D'Souza - the mastermind of a ruthless tactic earning some nods of approval among those in high society - stayed in the shadows, anonymous. Those who knew of his involvement in the case, knew him only as Mr A, adding to international intrigue. "I said I just want to be a private guy; I just want to go back to Australia, run my family property, business, run my start-ups," he said. "Today I am a very public figure but I was not comfortable with being a public figure 10 years ago. "The Gawker case, looking back, gave me the confidence to believe that I could do anything. "I'm very thankful to Peter Thiel because we decided to work on the Gawker case together when I was only 24 years old, I just met him socially." D'Souza remained connected with Thiel, who co-founded PayPal among other companies and was Facebook's first outside investor. And Thiel was an early investor when D'Souza floated Enhanced Games, a concept he nicked from an academic paper by Oxford bioethicist Professor Julian Savulescu debating merits of a sports event for athletes on drugs. "It wasn't my idea. I just said: 'You know what? I'm going to make a business out of this'," D'Souza said. Two years ago, he envisioned Enhanced Games interest streaming from various US college facilities. But he was shocked by the level of interest - and cash - from left field. Thiel, who wants to be cryogenically preserved when he dies, was joined as a backer by fellow multi-billionaire venture capitalist and biotech pioneer Christian Angermayer, who credits a magic mushroom trip for changing his life and wants to commercialise psychedelics. The pair, and others, view Enhanced Games not as a sports and entertainment event, but a shop-front stake in an anti-ageing and health industry worth trillions of dollars. "This is when two of the largest industries in the world merge - care, and sports and entertainment," D'Souza said. "There's so many more partnerships to be done, so many more levers in public policy to push, so many avenues of science to advance. "I do view this as still as a human rights struggle because, fundamentally, the principle human right is to be able to do with own body what we wish. "And that might mean taking synthetic testosterone. It may mean prosthesis. It may mean brain computer interfaces. "If you read the scientific literature, there is a pipeline of all this technology being developed right now." D'Souza said Enhanced Games' mission was "bringing super humanity - making the first super human". "Probably today, only one-tenth of a per cent of Americans would view themselves as enhanced," he said. "But in a few years, that will be five per cent, 10 per cent. "And that's how we're going to measure this. "I could get hit by a bus today and this event, this movement, will continue to succeed and grow because it's not about me, it's not about even the company that we have built. "It's about cultural zeitgeist that is happening in the world. "We timed it right but I am certain that within 20 years' time, all sport will be enhanced." The event has been decried by sports administrators worldwide, most notably the Olympic movement. But D'Souza said Olympic criticism had quietened since 1789 Capital, a company of Donald Trump Jnr, recently jumped aboard as a partner of the fledgling games. "I think there's been an order from the very top, and I mean from (soon-to-be retired IOC president Thomas) Bach himself," D'Souza said. "Because of the support we have from the Trump administration, and that the LA28 Olympics are coming around, they don't want to be seen as opposing us. "Because if they do, that risks the political support for LA28 and LA28 needs billions of dollars of taxpayer money to succeed." This AAP article was made possible by support from the Enhanced Games. What does Hulk Hogan's home-made porno - with his mate Bubba the Love Sponge's wife - have to do with it? For Australian entrepreneur Aron D'Souza, a fair bit. Hogan's romp is a link in the chain leading D'Souza to Las Vegas' sunset strip for this week's launch of Enhanced Games, a multi-sports event with no drug testing. D'Souza, a 40-year-old Melbourne-born businessman, has the backing of multi-billionaires, and a family company of US President Donald Trump. And he's pinching himself that a concept first planted in his mind 15 years ago when he read a bioethicist's paper is now in fruition. "I think about my life and it's like truth is stranger than fiction," D'Souza told AAP in an interview in Las Vegas. "If someone wrote the story of my life, you just couldn't believe it. "The Peter Thiel/Gawker case, that's a book and a movie in itself." The Gawker case involves Hulk Hogan and a home-made pornographic film. In 2006, the world famous wrestler was down in the dumps. A mate, a shock-jock known as Bubba the Love Sponge, offered his wife to Hogan. The wrestler agreed, on condition it wasn't recorded. Bubba lied, filmed the frolic and, six years later, it was leaked to a brash New York publisher known for flaunting rules, Gawker. In 2007, Gawker outed Thiel as gay. That article, while legal, enraged the German-born multi-billionaire who is now among financiers of D'Souza's Enhanced Games. The Australian met the German around 2010 when D'Souza, then 24, was completing a law degree at England's Oxford University. They got talking. Thiel told of his Gawker gripe. D'Souza got thinking. Why doesn't Thiel fund lawyers to find cases against Gawker, then sue them into extinction? Thiel agreed. When Gawker publishes Hulk Hogan's sex tape in 2012, D'Souza's plan swings into action. Backed by $10m of Thiel funds, Hogan wins damages to the tune of $100 million. Gawker goes bankrupt. Thiel was soon revealed as Hogan's bankroller. But D'Souza - the mastermind of a ruthless tactic earning some nods of approval among those in high society - stayed in the shadows, anonymous. Those who knew of his involvement in the case, knew him only as Mr A, adding to international intrigue. "I said I just want to be a private guy; I just want to go back to Australia, run my family property, business, run my start-ups," he said. "Today I am a very public figure but I was not comfortable with being a public figure 10 years ago. "The Gawker case, looking back, gave me the confidence to believe that I could do anything. "I'm very thankful to Peter Thiel because we decided to work on the Gawker case together when I was only 24 years old, I just met him socially." D'Souza remained connected with Thiel, who co-founded PayPal among other companies and was Facebook's first outside investor. And Thiel was an early investor when D'Souza floated Enhanced Games, a concept he nicked from an academic paper by Oxford bioethicist Professor Julian Savulescu debating merits of a sports event for athletes on drugs. "It wasn't my idea. I just said: 'You know what? I'm going to make a business out of this'," D'Souza said. Two years ago, he envisioned Enhanced Games interest streaming from various US college facilities. But he was shocked by the level of interest - and cash - from left field. Thiel, who wants to be cryogenically preserved when he dies, was joined as a backer by fellow multi-billionaire venture capitalist and biotech pioneer Christian Angermayer, who credits a magic mushroom trip for changing his life and wants to commercialise psychedelics. The pair, and others, view Enhanced Games not as a sports and entertainment event, but a shop-front stake in an anti-ageing and health industry worth trillions of dollars. "This is when two of the largest industries in the world merge - care, and sports and entertainment," D'Souza said. "There's so many more partnerships to be done, so many more levers in public policy to push, so many avenues of science to advance. "I do view this as still as a human rights struggle because, fundamentally, the principle human right is to be able to do with own body what we wish. "And that might mean taking synthetic testosterone. It may mean prosthesis. It may mean brain computer interfaces. "If you read the scientific literature, there is a pipeline of all this technology being developed right now." D'Souza said Enhanced Games' mission was "bringing super humanity - making the first super human". "Probably today, only one-tenth of a per cent of Americans would view themselves as enhanced," he said. "But in a few years, that will be five per cent, 10 per cent. "And that's how we're going to measure this. "I could get hit by a bus today and this event, this movement, will continue to succeed and grow because it's not about me, it's not about even the company that we have built. "It's about cultural zeitgeist that is happening in the world. "We timed it right but I am certain that within 20 years' time, all sport will be enhanced." The event has been decried by sports administrators worldwide, most notably the Olympic movement. But D'Souza said Olympic criticism had quietened since 1789 Capital, a company of Donald Trump Jnr, recently jumped aboard as a partner of the fledgling games. "I think there's been an order from the very top, and I mean from (soon-to-be retired IOC president Thomas) Bach himself," D'Souza said. "Because of the support we have from the Trump administration, and that the LA28 Olympics are coming around, they don't want to be seen as opposing us. "Because if they do, that risks the political support for LA28 and LA28 needs billions of dollars of taxpayer money to succeed." This AAP article was made possible by support from the Enhanced Games. What does Hulk Hogan's home-made porno - with his mate Bubba the Love Sponge's wife - have to do with it? For Australian entrepreneur Aron D'Souza, a fair bit. Hogan's romp is a link in the chain leading D'Souza to Las Vegas' sunset strip for this week's launch of Enhanced Games, a multi-sports event with no drug testing. D'Souza, a 40-year-old Melbourne-born businessman, has the backing of multi-billionaires, and a family company of US President Donald Trump. And he's pinching himself that a concept first planted in his mind 15 years ago when he read a bioethicist's paper is now in fruition. "I think about my life and it's like truth is stranger than fiction," D'Souza told AAP in an interview in Las Vegas. "If someone wrote the story of my life, you just couldn't believe it. "The Peter Thiel/Gawker case, that's a book and a movie in itself." The Gawker case involves Hulk Hogan and a home-made pornographic film. In 2006, the world famous wrestler was down in the dumps. A mate, a shock-jock known as Bubba the Love Sponge, offered his wife to Hogan. The wrestler agreed, on condition it wasn't recorded. Bubba lied, filmed the frolic and, six years later, it was leaked to a brash New York publisher known for flaunting rules, Gawker. In 2007, Gawker outed Thiel as gay. That article, while legal, enraged the German-born multi-billionaire who is now among financiers of D'Souza's Enhanced Games. The Australian met the German around 2010 when D'Souza, then 24, was completing a law degree at England's Oxford University. They got talking. Thiel told of his Gawker gripe. D'Souza got thinking. Why doesn't Thiel fund lawyers to find cases against Gawker, then sue them into extinction? Thiel agreed. When Gawker publishes Hulk Hogan's sex tape in 2012, D'Souza's plan swings into action. Backed by $10m of Thiel funds, Hogan wins damages to the tune of $100 million. Gawker goes bankrupt. Thiel was soon revealed as Hogan's bankroller. But D'Souza - the mastermind of a ruthless tactic earning some nods of approval among those in high society - stayed in the shadows, anonymous. Those who knew of his involvement in the case, knew him only as Mr A, adding to international intrigue. "I said I just want to be a private guy; I just want to go back to Australia, run my family property, business, run my start-ups," he said. "Today I am a very public figure but I was not comfortable with being a public figure 10 years ago. "The Gawker case, looking back, gave me the confidence to believe that I could do anything. "I'm very thankful to Peter Thiel because we decided to work on the Gawker case together when I was only 24 years old, I just met him socially." D'Souza remained connected with Thiel, who co-founded PayPal among other companies and was Facebook's first outside investor. And Thiel was an early investor when D'Souza floated Enhanced Games, a concept he nicked from an academic paper by Oxford bioethicist Professor Julian Savulescu debating merits of a sports event for athletes on drugs. "It wasn't my idea. I just said: 'You know what? I'm going to make a business out of this'," D'Souza said. Two years ago, he envisioned Enhanced Games interest streaming from various US college facilities. But he was shocked by the level of interest - and cash - from left field. Thiel, who wants to be cryogenically preserved when he dies, was joined as a backer by fellow multi-billionaire venture capitalist and biotech pioneer Christian Angermayer, who credits a magic mushroom trip for changing his life and wants to commercialise psychedelics. The pair, and others, view Enhanced Games not as a sports and entertainment event, but a shop-front stake in an anti-ageing and health industry worth trillions of dollars. "This is when two of the largest industries in the world merge - care, and sports and entertainment," D'Souza said. "There's so many more partnerships to be done, so many more levers in public policy to push, so many avenues of science to advance. "I do view this as still as a human rights struggle because, fundamentally, the principle human right is to be able to do with own body what we wish. "And that might mean taking synthetic testosterone. It may mean prosthesis. It may mean brain computer interfaces. "If you read the scientific literature, there is a pipeline of all this technology being developed right now." D'Souza said Enhanced Games' mission was "bringing super humanity - making the first super human". "Probably today, only one-tenth of a per cent of Americans would view themselves as enhanced," he said. "But in a few years, that will be five per cent, 10 per cent. "And that's how we're going to measure this. "I could get hit by a bus today and this event, this movement, will continue to succeed and grow because it's not about me, it's not about even the company that we have built. "It's about cultural zeitgeist that is happening in the world. "We timed it right but I am certain that within 20 years' time, all sport will be enhanced." The event has been decried by sports administrators worldwide, most notably the Olympic movement. But D'Souza said Olympic criticism had quietened since 1789 Capital, a company of Donald Trump Jnr, recently jumped aboard as a partner of the fledgling games. "I think there's been an order from the very top, and I mean from (soon-to-be retired IOC president Thomas) Bach himself," D'Souza said. "Because of the support we have from the Trump administration, and that the LA28 Olympics are coming around, they don't want to be seen as opposing us. "Because if they do, that risks the political support for LA28 and LA28 needs billions of dollars of taxpayer money to succeed." This AAP article was made possible by support from the Enhanced Games.
